FIFA and the World Cup can learn two important lessons from Ice Hockey. First, the football/soccer needs a second referee on field. The game has gotten to fast with long passing putting the current lone referee in no position to make a good call – witness what swarming TV coverage showed viewers time after time in the current World Cup games- botched calls. The NHL adapted to this same problem by adding a second referee – and the two refs patrol roughly one half the ice but certainly follow action and are dedicated to calling a good game jointly.
The second lesson is that defense may very well win championships but it can be a loser in the long term if goal scoring declines. The excitement of the game trends ever downward. The NHL and Ice Hockey had to learn this lesson over 30 years and now tweaks it rules to ensure that scoring goals remains a part of Ice Hockey. FIFA should do the same.
The third lesson is that assists are vital to the game of Ice Hockey, Football/Soccer and any team sport. So assists should be measured that way. Yet FIFA and soccer/football have largely ignored assists – see here for the details around this comment about assists in FIFA leagues:
Record of assists was virtually not kept at all [in Football] until the end of the 20th century. The North American Soccer League kept assist statistics from its foundation in 1968, as its forebears the United Soccer Association and National Professional Soccer League had done the previous year. Analogous statistics were already being kept in basketball and in ice hockey, both established North American sports.
Instead the Golden Boot is awarded to the player who scores the most goals no assists in the World Cup. As well in recent proposals for rating players, FIFA has proposed two points for scoring a goal and one point for an assist. In contrast the NHL scores tallies one point for a goal and one point for an assist.
And look at the semi-finalists in this years World Cup. Germany, Netherlands and Spain interestingly enough are in the World Cup semifinals. All are passing oriented teams. In the quarterfinals, Germany dismembered Argentina 4-0 in which 3 of the 4 goals were tap or head ins after brilliant passing. The emerging soccer/football powers recognize that passing and assists are the real gold in football. FIFA should recognize that and like the NHL/Ice Hockey and award accordingly the power of assists.
The first and most important tip from Ice Hockey is that officiating must be up to snuff. No refereeing “uncertainty principle” will add to the charm of the game. Players quickly learn that referee deception is easy and thus the proliferation of shoves, pulls on pants and shirt, out and out wrestling on corner+free kicks, plus late tackles and other “fine” footwork. But even worse has been the outbreak of thespian diving and writhing as a weapon of mass deception that slows and ultimately ruins “the beautiful game”. The adding of one more referee dividing the pitch roughly in half is vital to the game – as the superb World Cup TV coverage has made abundantly clear.
The second lesson of Ice Hockey for the World Cup and football is that wilting defense wins games and championships; but at the cost of a Pyrrhic victory. Defensive, low scoring games loses fans in the long term. This year’s World Cup is a dramatic example. Many of the games in the group elimination were defensive struggles for which blowing the vuvuzelas was most appropriate – Boring Big Time. Ice Hockey had to learn this lesson over 30 years.
Look at what the goalie comes packed with to defend his net. Ever expanding padding, much bigger glove, and generally greater bulk to cutoff shots at the net. And the same applies to the other players equipment – so the frequency with which players dive to the ice to block shots has increased manifold.
Big surprise! The number of goals scored in a hockey game had been gradually falling nearly every year for 25 years. The game, which is fast and exciting, was losing its most important element – scoring goals. So the NHL over the past ten years has modified its rules. Toughened checking from behind penalty calls, limited the size of goalie and player padding and blockers, and even considered widening the net. But the bottom line is that scoring has seen an uptick and the NHL is constantly monitoring the goal scoring status of the game.
Now except for the goalies glove , football does not have the equivalent padding for defensive advantage as in hockey. So FIFA is going to have to seriously consider actions that will bring about more goals scored. Certainly improving the officiating with an additional referee will cut down on diving, wrestling on corner + free kicks, and shoving and tugging on body or clothing, plus late tackles. But that may not be enough.
FIFA will have to consider more offensively oriented rule changes. perhaps scoreless or 1-1 games would see offside rules relaxed for the last 30 minutes. Perhaps the first pass over the midline would never be offside. Imagine the number of goals that would produce! Or maybe no offside once the ball has been passed over the top of the box line. But as soon as the ball passes back over the top of the line, offside applies again until the ball recrosses the line. Maybe rigorous enforcement of no player contact rules now that an additional referee is available for scrutinizing the action on corner and free kicks would produce more goals.
But goals is what soccer/football needs to make the game exciting again. Now FIFA can say “What, Me, Worry? We have the most popular sport in the World – it is even taking off in North America”. Two answers to that. Golf and basketball are picking up ever greater popularity world wide. And just see what a few more World Cups and other Football Championships won by penalty kicks does for the game as goals become ever harder to come by.
The World Cup has had wonderously good TV coverage from a technical point of view. Often one shot on goal is shown from 3 or 4 points of camera angles. And the broad overhead shots of the field provide a great overview of the field of play. And who cannot be amazed at the net camera shots which show intimately how a goal is scored including the shaking of the camera attached to the netting. Spectacular!
But also the problem as the NHL-National Hockey league learned to its demise – good TV shows off poor officiating.
This is one of three problems in which FIFA, the World Cup sponsors and organizers, could learn a lesson from Ice Hockey. First and foremost, good TV coverage shows off how bad the officiating can be. Think of the disallowed England goal against Germany and US versus Slovenia. Think of the many Thespian performances as players dive and writhe in pain in order to get a freekick. This nonsense is being caught on camera in HD technicolor; let alone the thousands of still cameras trained on the field.
Brazil’s Kaka caught mid-dive
The fundamental problem is that the referee is running about 12 miles per game across a pitch that is 120m(130 yards) by 45m(50 yards). And with swift long ball initiated counter attacks, the referee is whipped one way and another. The result to no one surprise is that the referee can be 20-40 yards from the point of infraction with his his line of sight obscured by one or more players. Not conducive to making the best of calls and the World Cup broadcasts have certainly shown that.
Now FIFA will counter that the referee has 2 sideline assistants able to make calls. But let me tell you talks with those sideline assistants reveals they are fully absorbed in the tricky task of calling offsides and out-of-bounds plays. Also some referees do not like interference by the sideline assistants in the games. So referees can count on scant assistance from the sidelines.
The obvious solution is what the NHL did ten years ago – added a second referee to the game and for goal scoring disputes added video replay shortly there after. Now bad officiating, especially disputed goal scoring calls is much less a factor in the NHL and especially Stanley Cup Playoff games. Contrast that with some of the World Cup “action”.
But FIFA is resisting strenuously.
FIFA’s arguments are threefold. First, an added referee will just cause confusion and conflict between the two referees. Not so from NHL experience. The two referees cover the two halfs of the rink but do flow back and forth with the the play. Nearest referee gets primary call responsibility;but they quickly confer to confirm calls on occasion. Getting the call right is their first priority and how they are assessed and compensated. The referees work together to call a good game.
The source of the second objection from FIFA is that two referees and video replay will stifle the free flow of the game. But look what all the player protests, painful on-field writhings, and free kick/corner kick shenanigans are doing to the free flow of the game. Ice hockey was told the same story. But the elimination of a deception advantage with better officiating did the opposite, added more speed and flow to ice hockey.
Last, citing Werner Heissenberg’s Uncertainty Principle, Sepp Blatter, head of FIFA says people enjoy this uncertainty on whether the game is called right. It adds an Ich kenn nicht wass [je ne sais quoi] to the game. Hmmm …. and I don’t know what could be a more ridiculous idea.
So watch what FIFA does . FIFA will do its part for fighting unemployment by adding two more officials standing at the goal mouth and making sure that that the goal scored by Ghana versus Uruguay was not stopped by a hand ball but had broken through the goal mouth plane and so no penalty kick was required. Meanwhile on field, the game of deception will continue at full pace – and the Toronto World Junior Football Championships has shown how much that can ruin the game. Argentina vs Chile promised speed and flow aplenty. Instead Toronto was treated to a brawl- shoving, shirt pulling, trips, and non-trips, arguments and near fisticuffs between the teams. The worst “game” this reviewer had ever seen in sport. There was no uncertainty that a game like that had done football a great disservice.
This is a story about the new forbidden fruit – picture taking at public events. After the Cobourg Highland Festival was washed out with a downpour, your PhotoFinishes editor wearing a PhotoFinishes cap and trying to rescue the day went down to the Cobourg Beach to catch the storm clouds over Lake Ontario. The graying Nimbus clouds were streaked with wind shear clouds in the distance. However, there was a small problem – the beach was littered with beach volleyball nets ruining the haunting, near-deserted, rainy day beach shots desired. Okay, so adapt. Do what others are doing – taking snaps of some of the beach volleyball games. Some are pickup games and others are part of an Ontario Volleyball Tournament.
Now four years ago yours truly with Sportpics covered the National Volleyball Championships that were held for 3 years in a row on Cobourg’s beaches. Covering those tournaments one quickly picks up the etiquette of not getting in the way of the players. Stay close to the net poles opposite from where the referees stand – it has a bonus of being where some of the best slam shots, curves, and blocks can be snapped up.
Since two friends have kids playing serious volleyball I asked the scorers what age group the players are from. At that point Ms Officious arrives and asks “What am I doing.” Hunh? Taking pictures of the game since I cant get the beach shots desired because of the games here. “What organizations do you represent ? “- PixOfCanada, why? We covered the National tournaments here several times and I gave Ms. Officious my card. “Well you can’t take pictures there you are getting in the way of the game.” What? I am trying to get enough pictures for a story that will be run on the PixofCanada website. But the game is mediocre and Ms. Officious is like one of P.G.Wodhouse’s comic snapping terriers – so anxious to bite and snip at you finding a better match seems the best course of action.
Three courts up the beach, the senior men are playing a very sharp game. Some great digs, even from full-blast slams. This is story worthy. But five minutes in Ms. P.R. Prettyface from Ontario Volleyball comes over and says “You cant take pictures here” . What? This is a public beach and your courts are in the way of the shots I originally came for. “Well you have to apply beforehand to get approval to take pictures … and its too late to do that”. But if I can get a few more pictures that will make a great story which I will publish on PixofCanada – you don’t want to miss out on 30,000 readers per month? “Nope, you cant take any more pictures” So I asked MS. P.R. to take me to her Ontario Volleyball Leader and sure enough he wanted to slit his own organizations best interests.
Exasperation
If you have detected a note of exasperation – you are an astute reader. Here are the reasons why:
1)The venue is a public park and beach paid for in part by PixofCanada tax payments. Since when could you not take pictures in a public park?
2)There were others taking pictures of the games – that was what convinced a change of heart from deserted beach to beach volleyball pictures.
3)There was no signage whatsoever declaring that this was an event at which picture-taking was forbidden.
4)Since this photographer had covered beach volleyball before, there was utmost observation of the proper picture taking etiquette while near the courts.
5)Finally there were some obvious questions. Does an event vendor using public property buy the right to decide who can take picture of the event? And are the city and county governments knowingly ceding this right of exclusive picture-taking to the event vendors? Also relevant – are governments charging extra for such privileges and demanding that advertising before the event and signage at the days of the event make this prohibition clear to prospective event goers?
So one can only conclude that Ontario Volleyball assumed that by renting the park for a period of time it had also been granted by the city of Cobourg and the county of Northumberland the right to designate who could and could not take pictures of the event.
It turns out Ontario Volleyball are not alone. Event sponsors using public property being used for public events with paid admission or not are reserving the right to prohibit picture-taking but not informing the public that they are doing so. A colleague discovered that at the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto last year where pictures were confiscated and destroyed with the Toronto Police supporting Royal Winter Fair officials. Ditto on no more picture-taking for some photographers at Wakefest even though they were standing outside the grounds on the other side of the lagoon down on Toronto Islands a few years ago.
At least the Ice KiteFest near Orillia informs the prospective event go-er on their website [no confirmation that this is carried through on print advertising] that no picture taking is allowed except for designated individuals – so though attractive, this party does not go there despite the invitations.
Collision Course
For most events people want to take pictures or videos as a memento of the occasion. This is in conflict sometimes with event vendors that want to charge for those “services”. Think the Toronto Maple Leafs or the Toronto Blue Jays. In the case of the Blue Jays, many don’t go to the games because a)the product has not improved since 1993, b)the prices are sky high and c)taking pictures is in a state of limbo – sometimes its okay and other times it is not.
But these event vendors have to take into account the fact that digital cameras which already have exploded in popularity have been supplemented by hundreds of millions of cellphone cameras. So now it is estimated that there are about 4 cameras per family in North America. These people want to take pictures of the places and events they go to – this is in conflict with event vendors like Ontario Volleyball or the Toronto Blue Jays who want to control who gets to take images of their events and may or may not clearly warn customers of those restrictions – especially in their pre-event and on site advertising.
If you have experienced episodes of this forbidden picture taking – please make a comment and it will be added as soon as possible.
My niece, Alicia Surveyer, has been working with some very interesting design motifs – silhouettes, shadows and reflection. There is a touch of avuncular bias but also a broader view of an artist taking the Group of Seven, especially Lawren Harris’ later works, into a new direction. These elements can be seen in recent paintings by Alicia.
Bolsena Dusk
This painting has a wonderful silhouette masking where clouds and limbs intermix, sumptuous colors, and a subtle reflection of those sunset colors in the waters. The mood and hues are reflective.
Vermillion Lake
This is on of the most design playful of Alicia’s paintings with 3 stripped tree trunks, a mountain that could be an ominous cloud, a sun ray that becomes a pointing cloud – and it all looks like a landscape sailing through the scene and time. Such great visual puns bring a smile to ones eye and mind.
Out of the Shadows
This is one of my favorites for its bold convention breaking design and colors. It is a roadside shadowed by shading from trees in Color. But the simplified design with the tree trunks and branches in front and the crimson leaves behind in the style of a medieval painting gets tricked into revelation by the shadow. The use of polygon but proportionate lighter areas gives the depth and shading cues to pull the piece together. Lovely with a dash of lemon.
To see a full selection Alicia’s paintings visit here.
If you are driving on the 401 between Toronto and Kingston, consider making a pit stop at the Wondrous Textiles Art Show at the Scotts Barn Cultural Center. This is a showing of Textile Art Works by a trio of artists – Susan MacDonald, Sheree Rasmussen and Judith Tinkl.
Each artist works in textiles, a family favorite; but each in diverse ways captured well in the shows ad brochure. Some PixofCanada goers will remember Sheree Rasmussen’s wonderfully colorful dancing color applique’ quilts from our coverage of the Spirit of the Hills Art Show at the Warkworth Maple Syrup Festival.
Check the color analysis found here of a superbly bountiful piece.
Susan MacDonald creates wearable art that is most refreshing in design and concept:
Here is just but one of over a dozen designs which can be viewed here.
Judith Tinkl, former head of the textiles section of the Ontario College of Art Design, shows a great creative spirit in her textile and quilt designs. The following quilt shows the great sense of design and color transparency and accumulation in Judith’s works.
Look for great inventiveness in the designs and layouts of Tinkl’s textile works.
In sum be prepared for some color and design delights in cloth and fabric at the Wondrous Textile exhibition – well named, indeed.